Ross University

About: Ross University is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 656 authors who have published 692 publications receiving 9332 citations.

Molecular markers in patients with chronic wounds to guide surgical debridement.

Abstract: Chronic wounds, such as venous ulcers, are characterized by physiological impairments manifested by delays in healing, resulting in severe morbidity Surgical debridement is routinely performed on chronic wounds because it stimulates healing However, procedures are repeated many times on the same patient because, in contrast to tumor excision, there are no objective biological/molecular markers to guide the extent of debridement To develop bioassays that can potentially guide surgical debridement, we assessed the pathogenesis of the patients’ wound tissue before and after wound debridement We obtained biopsies from three patients at two locations, the nonhealing edge (prior to debridement) and the adjacent, nonulcerated skin of the venous ulcers (post debridement), and evaluated their histology, biological response to wounding (migration) and gene expression profile We found that biopsies from the nonhealing edges exhibit distinct pathogenic morphology (hyperproliferative/hyperkeratotic epidermis; dermal fibrosis; increased procollagen synthesis) Fibroblasts deriving from this location exhibit impaired migration in comparison to the cells from adjacent nonulcerated biopsies, which exhibit normalization of morphology and normal migration capacity The nonhealing edges have a specific, identifiable, and reproducible gene expression profile The adjacent nonulcerated biopsies have their own distinctive reproducible gene expression profile, signifying that particular wound areas can be identified by gene expression profiling We conclude that chronic ulcers contain distinct subpopulations of cells with different capacity to heal and that gene expression profiling can be utilized to identify them In the future, molecular markers will be developed to identify the nonimpaired tissue, thereby making surgical debridement more accurate and more efficacious

Ewing sarcoma demonstrates racial disparities in incidence-related and sex-related differences in outcome: An analysis of 1631 cases from the SEER database, 1973-2005

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Previous reports of Ewing sarcoma cohorts suggested that there is a difference in incidence according to racial origin. However, to the authors' knowledge, this finding has never been tested in a population-based database, and the impact of race on clinical outcome and the significance of known risk factors stratified to racial groups have not been reported. METHODS: Patients who had Ewing sarcoma diagnosed between 1973 and 2005 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics; incidence; year of diagnosis; tumor location, tumor size, and disease stage at diagnosis; treatment(s); cause of death; and survival were extracted. Kaplan-Meier, log-rank, and Cox regressions were used to analyze the significance of prognostic factors. RESULTS: Race-specific incidence indicated that Caucasians have the highest incidence (0.155), followed by Asians/Pacific Islanders (0.082), and African Americans (0.017). The difference in incidence between Caucasians and African Americans was 9-fold and significant (P < .001). The incidence of Ewing sarcoma increased over the past 3 decades among Caucasians (P < .05). Survival was not impacted by race. Local disease stage, primary tumor location in the appendicular skeleton, and tumor size ≤8 cm conferred a significant survival benefit. Women demonstrated improved survival among the Caucasian patients (P < .03). CONCLUSIONS: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report focusing on racial disparity in incidence of Ewing sarcoma. Caucasians were affected more frequently, although outcomes were similar between races. It is noteworthy that being a woman constituted a survival benefit only among the Caucasian patients. Further studies will need to clarify the reasons for racial disparities in incidence and for sex differences in survival. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.

Dietary changes of large herbivores in the Turkana Basin, Kenya from 4 to 1 Ma

Abstract: A large stable isotope dataset from East and Central Africa from ca. 30 regional collection sites that range from forest to grassland shows that most extant East and Central African large herbivore taxa have diets dominated by C4 grazing or C3 browsing. Comparison with the fossil record shows that faunal assemblages from ca. 4.1–2.35 Ma in the Turkana Basin had a greater diversity of C3–C4 mixed feeding taxa than is presently found in modern East and Central African environments. In contrast, the period from 2.35 to 1.0 Ma had more C4-grazing taxa, especially nonruminant C4-grazing taxa, than are found in modern environments in East and Central Africa. Many nonbovid C4 grazers became extinct in Africa, notably the suid Notochoerus, the hipparion equid Eurygnathohippus, the giraffid Sivatherium, and the elephantid Elephas. Other important nonruminant C4-grazing taxa switched to browsing, including suids in the lineage Kolpochoerus-Hylochoerus and the elephant Loxodonta. Many modern herbivore taxa in Africa have diets that differ significantly from their fossil relatives. Elephants and tragelaphin bovids are two groups often used for paleoecological insight, yet their fossil diets were very different from their modern closest relatives; therefore, their taxonomic presence in a fossil assemblage does not indicate they had a similar ecological function in the past as they do at present. Overall, we find ecological assemblages of C3-browsing, C3–C4-mixed feeding, and C4-grazing taxa in the Turkana Basin fossil record that are different from any modern ecosystem in East or Central Africa.